The Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee advanced a package of seven firearms bills along party lines this week, setting up floor votes that gun rights advocates warn will make the Ocean State one of the most restrictive in the nation for law-abiding gun owners while doing little to address the criminal violence that plagues Providence neighborhoods.

The package includes a bill to require a permit to purchase any firearm, a measure to ban so-called "assault weapons" and standard-capacity magazines, a red flag law expansion, and a requirement that all firearms be stored with a trigger lock when not in immediate use. Supporters, led by House Majority Leader Christopher Blazejewski, argued the measures are necessary responses to gun violence that claims dozens of Rhode Island lives each year.

More than 400 gun owners, hunters, and Second Amendment advocates packed the State House rotunda and overflow rooms during the committee hearing, with many traveling from across the state to testify in opposition. "Not one of these bills would have stopped a single crime in Rhode Island," testified retired Providence police officer James Tavares. "What they will do is make it harder for law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families."

The Rhode Island 2A Coalition, which organized the opposition, noted that Rhode Island already has some of the strictest gun laws in New England and that the state's violent crime problem is concentrated in a small number of Providence zip codes where illegal firearms — not legally owned weapons — are the primary concern. "The legislature is targeting the wrong people," said coalition director Frank Saccoccio. "Legal gun owners are not the problem. Repeat violent offenders who are released without bail are the problem."

The bills now head to the full House for debate, where Democrats hold a commanding majority. The Senate is expected to take up companion legislation in coming weeks.